BACKGROUND: Reuters reports that the Natural Resources
Defense Council and World Wildlife Fund are running radio ads
criticizing the Bush administration for bowing out of the Kyoto
Protocol. The ads began running July 5 in Washington D.C., Chicago,
Miami, Portland (ME), Manchester (NH), Portland (OR) and Philadelphia.

TEN SECOND RESPONSE: Climate change is a natural occurrence
and is happening at this moment. It's happened for thousands of
years and scientists still aren't certain to what extent man contributes
to it.

THIRTY SECOND RESPONSE: Scare tactics won't work with
the American people. They realize that signing a treaty that would
raise our energy prices, put many out of jobs, and yet not require
developing countries to comply with the same restrictions is not
fair. If the Europeans support the treaty, why haven't their governments
ratified it?

In Europe, only Romania has ratified the treaty that Europeans
claim the U.S. is abandoning. President Bush didn't "kill"
the Kyoto Treaty. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution on July
25, 1997 by 95-0 that states that the Senate will not ratify any
climate treaty that would harm the U.S. economy or fails to require
developing countries to reduce their emissions. The Kyoto Protocol
does not meet either standard.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that,
if implemented, the Kyoto Protocol would cause gasoline price
to go up between 14 and 66 cents per gallon and electricity prices
to rise 20 to 86 percent. Union leaders such as Cecil E. Roberts,
president of the United Mine Workers of America, and James Hoffa,
president of the Teamsters Union, have also expressed concern
about the Protocol.

by Gretchen Randall, Director of Energy & Regulatory
Affairs, The National Center for Public Policy Research